1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to hunting blinds. More particularly, it relates to a hunting blind that can also be engaged as a load-bearing, usable trailer for portability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hunting blinds and deer blinds are well-known in the art. There are a multitude of types of hunting blinds, including elevated blinds, ground blinds, trailer blinds and situational blinds, such as deer blinds and duck blinds. Each has varying degrees of usability, portability and complexity. For example, ground blinds are designed to cover hunters on the ground and in many cases can be folded up into a small pouch for portability.
However, elevated blinds inherently are not as easily portable because they require the support structure to sustain its housing up to dozens of feet in the air. Elevated blinds must also be made of a material that is sustainable in varying weather and also be comfortable for users to remain inside the housing for long periods of time.
Elevated hunting blinds that are portable are also known in the art. However, in many cases, when using a truck to transport the hunting blind, the truck bed is used for the hunting blind, thereby limiting storage space for other hunting and non-hunting materials.
Moreover, elevated hunting blinds that are portable tend to be cumbersome to erect upon reaching the desired destination point. Often, these hunting blinds require multiple people to safely erect the hunting blind to its maximum height. Those blinds that do not require multiple people to erect tend to be too small to accommodate multiple people in its elevated housing. Thus, users have less flexibility with regards to the dangers of erecting an elevated hunting blind, the ability to accommodate multiple persons, and the ability to transport other items with the elevated hunting blind.
Further, conventional portable elevated hunting blinds use hydraulics or motors, or both, to erect the blinds and collapse them for transportation. Several problems tend to arise with this aspect of these conventional blinds. Hydraulics and motors require constant maintenance and repair to prevent malfunction or deterioration. Users incur extra costs and labor in maintaining the automated hunting blinds. Additionally, hunting blinds that collapse generally provide no function other than occupying space during transportation. Thus, hunters must often choose between bringing a hunting blind and bringing other cargo, for example a 4×4 vehicle, when going on a hunting trip.
Accordingly, what is needed is a multi-functional, more portable elevated hunting blind. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill how the art could be advanced.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the invention may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed invention should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.